Thursday, January 13
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NOORANI'S NOTES

 

To solve many of our scarcity problems in America - from COVID-19
tests to housing to labor - we need to develop an abundance agenda,
writes Derek Thompson of The Atlantic
.  

Just think about it: "After years of a deliberate policy to reduce visa
issuance for immigrants, we suddenly can't find enough workers for our
schools, factories, restaurants, or hotels."  

Increasing immigration, in addition to expanding access to essential
services, could help fix many of these issues, Thompson
writes. Welcoming more immigrants means bringing in more foreign
doctors, students, and innovative ideas. 

While the policy agenda is an "unabashedly utopian vision," its guidance
could provide Americans with "more comfortable lives, with more power to
do what we want, with more time devoted to what we love." 

Related: Former Ohio Rep. Steve Stivers (R), now president and CEO of
the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, offers his take

on why increasing immigration and welcoming immigrants to the workforce
can enrich our communities. 

Welcome to Thursday's edition of Noorani's Notes. If you have
a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at
[email protected]
.  

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**HEALTH CARE** - In his budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year,
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) included provisions to expand health
care to all low-income undocumented immigrant residents in the state,
report Tal Kopan and Dustin Gardiner of the San Francisco Chronicle
.
The proposal "would expand Medi-Cal, the health care program for
low-income Californians, to include all people regardless of their
immigration status, starting no earlier than 2024." The state budget for
the upcoming fiscal year is expected to have a $46 billion surplus,
Kopan and Gardiner note. "What Gov. Newsom shows is we must stop just
talking about immigrants as important to our country, essential to our
country, to our fabric and our diversity - it can't just be
rhetorical," said CHIRLA Executive Director
Angelica Salas. "It has to be real changes and real policies and laws
that uplift." 

DIVERSITY VISAS - The State Department said software issues that
have caused a delay in issuing diversity visas will take an estimated
four months to solve, reports Alyssa Aquino of Law360
.
"Winners of the 2020 visa lottery have been embroiled in a yearslong
court battle to secure their visas, saying the State Department -
under both the Trump and Biden administrations - had stopped
processing visa applications from foreigners subject to a now-rescinded
COVID-19 travel ban on immigrant visa holders," explains Aquino. In the
meanwhile, the department will issue green cards awarded through the
2022 lottery. "[The State Department has] decided to procrastinate, and
by only resuming processing in April, they may not plan to begin
interviews before summer," 2020 visa winners said. "Defendants should
not be permitted to manufacture their own crisis." 

IDAHO MOM - Mother of three Miriam Herrera and her husband recently
flew from Twin Falls, Idaho, to the U.S.-Mexico border to get her green
card - "a dream five years in the making," reports Julian Resendiz of
Border Report
.
But last week, an immigration officer rejected her application and
banned her from re-entering the U.S. for 10 years, citing two occasions
she was in the U.S. unlawfully at ages five and seven. "We figured
everything was going to be good. We don't have a criminal record.
We've done everything by the book..." said Baldemar Herrera,
Miriam's husband. "Our kids are wondering when we are coming home. We
don't want to tell them what's going on because it's hard enough
on us and I imagine it's going to be hard on them, too," Miriam
said.  

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**ZZ'S STORY** - For the past five months, former military
interpreter Zamzama "ZZ" Safi, 24, has been integrating into American
life after escaping Afghanistan. She now lives with a host family - a
colleague, former Navy Lt. Allen Nash, and his family - in St. Peters,
Missouri, reports Alex Heuer of St. Louis Public Radio
.
While she's enjoying her new life, she misses and worries for the
family she left behind. "My message to the U.S. government is this: As I
sacrificed for them so much and I helped them as a cultural adviser and
as a translator in Afghanistan, I want the U.S. government to help get
my family out of Afghanistan." 

Here is today's compilation of local stories: 

* With the help of his former colleague, an Air Force veteran, Hazem
Amiry recently resettled in Tucson, Arizona. Members of the community
are showing him a grand welcome: "An Air Force widow recently donated
her husband's car to the family, and a mechanic is fixing it up for
free." (FOX 10
) 

* Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church in San Diego is
sponsoring a collection of donations for Afghan refugees next week in
partnership with Alliance for African Assistance. (Linda McIntosh, The
San Diego Union-Tribune
) 

* Refugee Empowerment Center (REC), one of three refugee resettlement
agencies in Nebraska, has partnered with Restoring Dignity and The
Furniture Project to collect furniture and other necessities for the 900
Afghan refugees expected to resettle in Omaha by the end of February.
(Marlo Lundak, WOWT)
 

ITHACA'S REFUGEE COMMUNITY - For Documented
,
Meghna Maharishi explores how Ithaca, New York, is becoming a hub and
safe haven for refugees. For May Sabe Phyu, who fled her home country of
Myanmar last year to avoid persecution for her work as a prominent
women's rights activist, Ithaca "is a place that could heal." From
the arrival of Chinese immigrants in the 1800s to Vietnamese and Tibetan
refugees in the 1900s to Afghan evacuees in recent months "these
communities have become a part of the fabric that makes Ithaca,
Ithaca." 

Thanks for reading, 

Ali

 

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